Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a digital television field, and more particularly to an authorization method and system for a smart TV and a smart TV applying the same.
Description of the Related Art
As techniques of computer chips and the Internet prosper at an overwhelmingly fast pace, smart TVs have become a new market focus. In addition to receiving conventional television programs, a smart TV equipped with a high-performance processor and a broadband Internet interface can also be built-in or be installed with various applications. Although smart TVs and computers may appear homogenized, distinctions still exist between the two. First of all, a smart TV principally serves functions as a television, and is based on authorization requirements of conditional access similar to those of a digital television. That is, only clients that are authorized by manufacturers and service providers have access to services, and illegal clients and delinquent clients may be suspended from the services. Further, a smart TV, demanding higher system stability than that of a computer, forbids clients from installing arbitrary applications but only allows applications that are authorized by manufacturers, and is thus a more closed environment compared to a computer. Moreover, one manufacturer may have several different application providers. In order to guarantee the welfare of the application providers, authorization control is needed for all applications to ensure that only authorized applications can be downloaded and installed to a smart TV as well as being provided to only authorized clients.
A systematic or standardized authorization mechanism applied in smart TVs is currently market-unavailable. A license file cured in a television when manufacturing the television is a common authorization method adopted by many manufacturers. However, different authorization files need to be properly managed for each of a vast number of televisions during the manufacturing process, such that complications to the manufacturing process and lower manufacturing efficiency may be resulted. Further, the cured license file cannot be modified and is easily acquired for illegal use.